Dyed my Portland cover
I found a personal Portland online in what I believe was the burgundy color, it was in pretty worn condition with quite a bit of the color fading and scuffs in several areas. I was on the fence about the decision to dye it since it’s such a beautiful, vintage (I think?) cover but ultimately figured I’d get more use out of it this way. I used Angelus leather dye (not paint, this is an important difference) after stripping the finish and sealed with their matte finishing coat. I’m very happy with it overall!
Edited to add dyeing instructions:
https://angelusdirect.com/products/leather-preparer-and-deglazer?variant=323815071
https://angelusdirect.com/products/coffee-leather-dye?_pos=1&_sid=e6945cd24&_ss=r&variant=345075859
https://angelusdirect.com/products/matte-4-coat?_pos=3&_sid=0b6118b18&_ss=r&variant=39580229599298
This is the supplies I used, the 3 oz containers are more than enough for dyeing a Filofax. There’s really helpful videos on the Angelus YouTube channel if you’re new to this like I am. Basically, you wipe it down with a small amount of the leather deglazer first to remove the finish, let it dry— only takes a few minutes. Then you can go in with the dye, it’ll come with a wool ball applicator. I did two coats to make it really saturated and make sure the color under didn’t show through at all. I let it sit overnight to make sure it was dry enough for the top coat. This one was a bit tricky, it’s recommended to only do one coat and I’d recommend using a small paintbrush to get a really thin, even application. I used a paper towel and it left some areas a bit streaky. After that, let it dry and you’re done! I went in with acetone on a q tip the next day to clean the dye off the hardware. :)